December 25, 2015

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

This was a GREAT Christmas! The theme seemed to be Art and Science mostly, and the favorites were tiny Thomas trains for Dylan, a foosball table for Garrett, a spy kit for Eli and a magic set (or tornado lab) for Owen. They loved choosing gifts for Dwight, Janet and each other at Faith and were so excited to hand out their presents. It was still a gorgeous afternoon, so we took the kids bike riding with their new bikes and then came home for a traditional dinner of Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus with cupcakes. It was a full day of playing with new toys and art supplies, games, learning magic tricks and spying on everyone. We played a great game of soccer in the backyard and then the storm rolled in. It dropped almost 40 degrees, crazy rain and loads of wind. Sadly, there were several tornadoes the next day that destroyed neighborhoods : ( It was a joy filled day for us though!

December 24, 2015

Christmas Eve service at IBC was beautiful as always. This year it was even better because we got to celebrate with Dwight, Janet AND Jenny! We spent the morning handing out clothes, toiletries and food to the homeless downtown, Jenny and I went for a run and then we headed to church. It was hard to feel especially in the season because it was mid-70s outside, but we made the most of it (and winter weather was right around the corner!)

December 23, 2015

Janet and her little elves making Christmas treats!

December 6, 2015

Dylan must have had a little too much excitement during Grammy and Pappy's trip... he fell asleep on the couch during a kids show. That's unheard of!!

December 5, 2015

Deck the Trails!!

Last year, I ran with Owen and Charlie ran with Eli. This year, Charlie wanted me to go all out, so he started with both boys and I started close to the front of the line. Owen wanted to run by himself, and he did for more than two miles! I finished in 23:53, 1st place for my age group, 7/420 women and 36/677 overall!! The first ten places for women were all between 23:05 and 23:59. Unbelievable!

I waited at the finish line with Grammy, Pappy, Garrett and Dylan and we watched Owen come in (on his own!!) at 30:15 (last year he and I ran together and he finished in 31:40!) and Eli and Charlie finish together at 34:04 (last year they finished in 31:30). Owen said that he ran around the first field with Charlie and Eli, then took off on his own. 'I didn't walk at all, I didn't stop at the water stop and I ran right through the water in the Splish Splash zone!' He looked so strong and confident running to the finish line : ) Eli has been sick with a pretty terrible cough for about two weeks. It was a race-morning-decision for him to even run! So proud of both our competitors!!

Sleeping with Santa ; )

December 4, 2015

After our full day in Fort Worth, we still headed out that evening to Grapevine (the self proclaimed Christmas Capital of Texas) for an awesome event at First Baptist Grapevine that told the Christmas story through trees, actors and a light show. Getting in the Christmas spirit : )

December 4, 2015

What a great and busy day!! It started with a field trip to the Nutcracker at Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth, then we went to Salsa Limon for lunch (delicious! The Asada El Capitan was unbelievable!). From there we went to Sweet Sammie's and the Water Gardens, then came home for a quick break before heading to Grapevine. After that, a night of Qwirkle and watching the first night of the Hunger Games trilogy. Love having visitors!!